June 9, 2011

Family,

 

This week has been one that I will remember for the rest of my life. What better way to start off this last week than with a story about food. Friday is a day that I will remember for a long time and one that I have not easily forgotten as of now. This was the day that my companion and I had 3 dinners in one night! The first meal was planned and so was the last but the one in the middle was a last minute invitaiton that we could not pass up. The first meal was our regular memebr meal at 5pm. We ate with a recent convert who fed us chicken wings. They were delicious! She had four pans of oil on the stove frying them all up. At the end of the dinner I had a pile high of chicken bones. We left that meal and I was still hungry. We then recieved our unplanned invitation to eat with Christian at 6pm. He is the member from El Paso that asked us to speak at the memorial service of his Aunt's funeral and to dedicate her grave. We spoke and sang earlier Friday so he called and invited us to come over to his house to meet the 60 relatives that would be there and to grab a bite to eat. That bite turned into a plateful of pasta and meat. After that meal I was well full. Then we left Christian's to our 7pm appointment with our recent convert, Lorenzo, which was a Family Home Evening. Hispanic tradition is to have a mea with FHE. SO we chowed down on a Hispanic style stew called pasole. It is one of my favorite dishes. But by the time I finished that meal my companion and I could barely think straight we were so full. As we left we laughed about how much we had eaten that day, you know the scripture, "Eat, Drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die." Well this is exaclty how we felt. Although my companion seemed to show it more than I. I had to stop the car 3 times before we got home that night so that he could soak the curbs of Las Vegas with Lorenzo's pasole. And even today I feel full from those meals. And I'm pretty sure I am 5 pounds heavier too.

 

So that was a wonderful start to our week. The other amazing thing that happened was the opportunity to participate in this funeral. Tia Maria was the Aunt to Christian Vargas, an eccentric entertainment lover from El Paso who is a bilingual member of the church. Friday when we spoke at the memorial service 3 of us spoke to a pakced room of about 120 non-eglish speaking relatives of Tia Maria. The spirit was very strong once we got there and as we spoke. Many in the congregation were nodding their heads in agreement as we shared thoughts of comfort and answered the question of were are we going after this life. The family was grateful for our participation and expressed their thanks at dinner that night. Saturday we woke up early and picked up two other memebers of our district and practiced a hymn to sing at the burial service. We arrived at the cemetery and were invited to conduct the service. We stepped into the tent that was over the casket and four of us sang "Conmigo Quedate Senor (Abide with Me Tis Eventide)," in a three part harmony. The spirit came rushing in. And its presence was evident because after the song I knelt down to dedicate the grave and not only did the other missionaries kneel but everyone else around the coffin knelt as well. After I finished the dedication which I had only practiced a few hours before it was aparent even more so that the HOly Ghost was present. I was able to say the dedication correctly in Spanish and when it came time to give a blessing as directed by the Spirit I could feel myself speaking but not thinking, the words jsut came. When we opened our eyes the others around us came form off their knees along with us and a sense of peace filled the air that was not necessarily there before. I will never forget that experience and I can only hope that those who were there do not either and allow the SPirit to testify to them the truth of the authority by which we were able to dedicate that grave.

 

The rest of the week was filled with interesting street contacts, closed minded husbands, and my final interview with President Christensen. He will be released at the beginning of  July and President Neider will take his spot. He and I grew very close and I pray that relationship remains.

 

I love you all.

Love,

Elder Cronin